The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose D-League affiliate is the Canton Charge:
The Cavs made nine assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 29 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls Cleveland made for the 2015/16 season:
- November 13th: Assigned Joe Harris (1st) — Recalled November 19th
- November 20th: Assigned Joe Harris (2nd) — Recalled November 21st
- November 28th: Assigned Joe Harris (3rd) — Recalled November 30th
- December 2nd: Assigned Joe Harris (4th) — Recalled December 17th
- December 19th: Assigned Joe Harris (5th) — Recalled December 20th
- April 11th: Assigned Sasha Kaun (1st) — Recalled April 11th
- April 11th: Assigned Jordan McRae (1st) — Recalled April 11th
- April 12th: Assigned Sasha Kaun (2nd) — Recalled April 13th
- April 12th: Assigned Jordan McRae (2nd) — Recalled April 13th
Canton also had seven players assigned to it from other NBA franchises via the flexible assignment rule:
- The Bucks sent Damien Inglis (one assignment, 13 days) and Rashad Vaughn (one assignment, eight days).
- The Bulls sent Cristiano Felicio (two assignments, 15 days).
- The Clippers sent C.J. Wilcox (three assignments, 40 days).
- The Hawks sent Edy Tavares (one assignment, three days), Tim Hardaway Jr. (one assignment, three days) and Lamar Patterson (one assignment, 24 days).
Here is how the Cavs’ players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Joe Harris: In 10 D-League appearances, the combo guard averaged 16.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33.1 minutes per outing. Harris’ shooting line was .397/.323/.794.
- Sasha Kaun: In one D-League outing, the center logged 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks in 30 minutes of action. Kaun made six out of his seven field goal attempts on the night.
- Jordan McRae: The shooting guard did not see any game action for Canton while on assignment. McRae did appear in 29 contests this season for the Delaware 87ers, who are the Sixers’ affiliate, averaging 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 35.4 minutes per outing. His slash line with Delaware was .549/.318/.799.